A tale of good and evil, of corruption and deceit, of prejudice,
politics, and power, this compelling account scrutinizes the
immensely lucrative Nevada gambling industry s struggle to maintain
legitimacy or at least the appearance of it. Ronald A. Farrell and
Carole Case tell how state regulators created the Black Book in the
1960s, a list of notorious and unsavory persons banned forever from
owning, managing, or even entering casinos in the state. The
regulators dramatically pursued and publicly denounced former
lieutenants of Al Capone, alleged overlords of the American Mafia,
nationally known professional gamblers, and major casino owners, as
well as small-time bookies and hoods, reputed sports fixers, and
gambling cheats. To date, thirty-eight names have been entered in
the Black Book, including Sam Giancana, Anthony Spilotro, and Frank
Lefty Rosenthal. Farrell and Case contend, however, that the
denunciations were a melodrama, meant to show that the government
was cleansing the city of corruption. Through the Black Book, the
regulators focus public attention on the Mob, rather than on a
multitude of competing criminal interests already in the gaming
industry. The authors uncover evidence of ethnic discrimination by
the regulators, including selective prosecution of Italian
Americans whose notoriety fit popular Mafia stereotypes. "The Black
Book and the Mob" records hearings of the regulatory commission and
the voices of lawyers, government officials, casino owners, and the
people named in the Black Book itself. This Las Vegas story is a
rebuke to the gaming industry and a cautionary tale for many states
and communities now weighing the legalization of casino gambling."